General questions about movies, TV and more

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There was a movie featuring Vincent D'onofrio. In the movie he is the leader of a gang of criminals who rob a building. One of the criminals forgot to wear his gloves, leaving Vincent deciding whether to kill the guy for his incompetents or let him live. They also unknowingly abducted a young mentally impaired girl who laughs at the whole ordeal.

Answer: It may be 'Spanish Judges', a low-budget movie from 2000, in which Vincent D'Onofrio is a con-man. In it, I believe he plans to steal antique art. It also features a mentally impaired girl who thinks she is from another planet.

Purple_Girl

There was a movie about a woman who discovered that her daughter was sexually assaulted and when the man is set free due to lack of evidence, she murders him and makes it look like a suicide. The wife of the man then confronts her and says she knows that her husband was really murdered. A detective also working on the case befriends the mom and also says the man was murdered due to inconsistencies involving the man's death.

Answer: It might be the TV movie "Don't touch my Daughter" (1991). Victoria Principal murders her daughter's rapist, then lives with the fear of being exposed. After the police close the case, the rapist's widow calls saying, she knows what she did.

Only saw the ending to this movie a couple times. A black teenager is sitting in a chamber about to be killed by lethal injection. As the process starts, the phone rings and a woman picks it up. She immediately screams to stop the execution but the kid has already died.

Answer: It may not be what you're thinking of; but it sounds similar to "True Crime", starring Clint Eastwood and Isiah Washington. Near the end, an innocent black man, Frank Beecham (Washington), is undergoing lethal injection, which is a 3-stage process (although he's not a teenager). A reporter, Steve Everett (Eastwood), is able to convince the Governor that Frank is innocent and the Governor calls to stop the execution, but it may be too late as stage-1 had already begun. As they try to revive Frank, his wife is banging on the window and yelling for him to wake up. It seems the call was in fact too late. However, the end shows Steve out shopping when he comes across Frank, showing Frank to be alive and well, and free.

Bishop73

Need help remembering the name of an episode from the TV show CBS Storybreak. The episode is about a kid who has a model of a dinosaur. As soon as he puts the head on, he's immediately transported to another world populated by anthropomorphic dinosaurs. He befriends a dinosaur and has to escape from the clutches of an evil dinosaur who wants to make money off him.

Answer: This sounds like "The Double Disappearance Of Walter Fozbek" (Season 1, Episode 7) https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-story/129796-Double-Disappearance-Of-Walter-Fozb.

Arris

Searching for the name of a story. It's about two teenage friends. One of them invents a time machine and when the button is pressed, they both end up in Medieval times. Unfortunately, the kid who invented the time machine is turned into a horse while his friend remains human but must take the place of a knight who looks exactly like him.

Answer: It's called 'Max and Me and the Time Machine' (though they acquired the time machine from the estate of a mad scientist).

Brian Katcher

A movie about a girl who escapes from an asylum. As soon as she escapes, she gets picked up by another girl. The girl needs to get gas in her car but she's ignored by the gas station owner who'd rather have sex with his girlfriend. When she looks down at the ground, she sees a newspaper with the escapee's picture on it. She is then killed by the escapee and the girl then pretends to be the girl she killed.

A movie with several short stories or a TV show that was scary or spooky that I saw in late 70s or 80s. The only part I recall is a young girl is being picked on by an older girl and she is reading some evil book. She draws some kind of circle on the ground with wax and dares the bully to go in. After she does, she says more things and the girl is trapped in the circle. Says some more and she shrinks. The tiny bully runs frantically, maybe a cat chasing or something. Eventually the girl steps on and kills the bully girl.

Answer: It's a British horror movie, titled The Uncanny (1977). Peter Cushing tells his publisher, Ray Milland, a trio of tales from his book, that cats are evil supernatural entities. One story is a young girl, with a cat, who goes to live with her Aunt's family.

I remember seeing parts of this movie as a child, and it has bothered me for years. It's got to be early to mid 80's (or later since I was very young), but the parts I remember involve a mentally handicapped man who is in a 'relationship' with a hairdresser (he comes in every day for a piece of bubblegum) being framed for murder with her scissors as the weapon. His 'job' is pulling weeds, or something like that.

Audrie Lynette Tice

Why do several TV shows have the announcement "[Show Name] is filmed in front of a live studio audience"?

Answer: This kind of announcement was a common practice, particularly during the 1970's and 1980's, to inform the home viewing audience that the reactions (laughter, gasps, hoots of approval, etc.) they hear were produced live by human beings, rather than added on a canned laugh/response track in post-production. It can be a bit misleading, however. Often, during the filming of a show, several takes are required to capture a scene to the satisfaction of the director and actors. It would be impossible for audiences to respond with the same ebullience for several takes in a row. So, many times, the audience reaction from a prior take is used for the final take we see on television.

Michael Albert

There was a TV movie that had Hilary Swank. In the movie, she plays a woman whose husband was arrested and charged with the murder of an elderly couple that he knew. During the trial, flashbacks show what happened. The husband had a sleepwalking episode where he drove to their house and began fixing an air conditioner. When they noticed him, they tried talking to him but with no luck. Eventually, the old man touches the husband on his shoulder and he suddenly goes berserk and kills them both. The ending of the movie has the husband found not guilty and Hilary's family disowning her.

Answer: The movie is The Sleepwalker Killing. It's based on a true story. In it, Swank plays the wife of a man who kills his mother-in-law and seriously injures his father-in-law (her parents). His defense is he was sleepwalking and she's torn between believing her husband and staying with him or siding with her family. She decides to stay with her husband, causing the riff in the family after he was acquitted of murder and attempted murder.

Bishop73

Answer: It's called The Sleepwalker Killing.

BaconIsMyBFF

I'm trying to remember the title of a film probably from the late 80s or early 90s. The main plot centers around a teen promoting his favorite local band called "Severed Heads In A Box" or something similar. There were also numerous subplots such as the main character having a crush on a girl who herself has a crush on the band's singer, his sister trying to stop him from having a big party at his house, and a lot of other things going on. I've tried to find the film on IMDb, but I don't have enough info to go on. Thanks in advance for any help.

zendaddy621

I remember a movie where two women were training to be lawyers or cops. The teacher assigned the class unsolved cases as a test. The two women got one about stolen sheets or towels from an industrial laundry. They tracked the guy down and got a confession out of him. He said "are you going to arrest me?" and they replied "No, we're not cops. We are only in training." Think this movie is mid 90s.

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: This sounds like the 1988 light-comedy film, "Feds," starring Rebecca DeMornay and Mary Gross as two unlikely F.B.I. trainees who support each other through the rigorous program.

raywest

I am searching for the title of a movie a saw in the 60's but looked old even then. It was a Sci-Fi about creatures from below the surface of the earth. The creatures were slimy and used spears. The tips of the spears could be removed and the shaft was hollow. People trapped in a dome of some sort surmised that the creatures used the hollow spears to fight among themselves.

SantaJim

Why do several TV shows portray fathers as bumbling idiots? Just two examples are Homer Simpson ("The Simpsons") and Peter Griffin ("Family Guy").

Answer: It's just an old "nuclear family" stereotype dating back to the earliest days of television sitcoms. The father was often depicted as a good parent and faithful husband, but he was often a bit clueless about what was going on in the family. The mother was always the most level-headed one who managed the home and kids and kept everything running smoothly, all while tactfully letting her spouse believe he was in charge.

raywest

I realise that these details are vague, but I would appreciate any guesses. This has been bugging me for years. I don't remember the main plot of this movie, but it involves a teenage boy (perhaps a pre-teen) who lives with a mean older brother. Or another adult male. At one point, the boy finally snaps and yells at him: "She thinks you're pathetic!", referring to a girl who the mean boy has been talking to/flirting with. Then there is an explosion sound (and possibly a clip of an explosion). I saw this in the '90s, so it's at least that old.

Answer: I don't know if this is the correct answer, but every time I read the question, it reminds me of an episode of the TV show, The Wonder Years. Kevin, the little brother is annoyed by his big brother, who keeps picking on him. He tries to act "cool" calling a girl to come over, when the parents are out. He then berates, Kevin, that he's a real man, who got a date. He is later dumbfounded, when she doesn't show up. Kevin, at this point, explodes screaming the girl is not coming because he's pathetic and nobody likes him.

Not sure if it's the same movie or if I'm thinking about two different films entirely, but I know that it had Gene Wilder in it. In the movie, Gene is sitting in a cab with a woman and sees her writing an address on an envelope which he drops in a mail box for her. Later, he is abducted and through some kind of drug is forced to tell his kidnapper what the address is. Another scene has him confronting a lady who she thinks he's attempting to rob. When he tells her that he doesn't want her money, she pulls her blouse tight causing him to say he doesn't want her body either.

Answer: I believe the scene in the cab is from Hanky Panky (1981). The woman, Kathleen Quinlan, is being chased by government agents. After mailing something, she is killed, so they go after him. The second, I believe is from Stir Crazy. At the beginning of the movie, Gene plays store security, who chases a woman he believes shoplifted, and harasses her. She thinks he's a lunatic.

There was a movie that had Walter Matthau in it. He plays a man whose daughter is getting married when she suddenly locks herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. Walter spends his whole time trying to convince her to come out. She eventually lets Walter go into the bathroom and when he leaves, he goes downstairs and returns with his daughter's fiancé with him. The fiancé bangs on the door and tells her to cool it. The daughter then leaves the bathroom and goes downstairs to get married.

Answer: The movie you are thinking of is California Suite (1978).

Gavin Jackson

Answer: The movie is Plaza Suite. A trio of stories taking place in a New York hotel. Walter plays the lead in all three. A married man, a womanizer and a father. The last one is the one you described.

I remember seeing part of a live action movie on TV that showed a puppy playing with an old woman who lived on the street and she later dies from an illness. The puppy also has dreams of a past life, and later joins with an older dog and he grows up with him in a junkyard. When he is all grown up he attacks a man for stepping on his tail and the man takes his revenge on him by kidnapping him and taking him to a place where he is used in some sort of a test. I didn't watch the rest of the movie after that because it bothered me so much. Can anyone tell me what this movie was called?

Answer: This is Fluke (1995), starring Matthew Modine at the voice of Fluke the dog.

Sierra1

There was a movie staring Mario Van Peebles. In the movie, he catches a serial killer who, by decision of a jury, is sentenced to death. The man is believed to be dead but, about eight years later, members of the jury are being killed and their deaths match the way that Christian martyrs died. Eventually the truth is discovered. The killer was somehow brought back to life, had his face altered and his memory wiped in hopes of reforming him. Instead, the killer remembers what happened and now wants revenge.

Answer: The movie starring Mario Van Peebles was a movie released back in 2000, called Blowback (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0201484/).

Casual Person

What usually happens with movie/TV show scenes that involve food (i.e., a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner)? Is fake food used, real food, etc.?

Answer: Having worked in food photography and videography, I can tell you that the majority of the food you see in film is completely inedible. Items such as roast turkey and cakes, while real enough to carve and slice on camera, are usually airbrushed with paint for a "perfect" appearance; meats and fruits, in particular, are often sprayed with commercial furniture polish to achieve a high gloss. Static side dishes adorning the table are often wax or plastic. The only edible foods are small prepared portions seen in closeups of actors actually eating.

Charles Austin Miller

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